Finally Hollow
by Razzer
Summary: Ichigo was killed by Ulquiorra when they first fought in Las Noches, right? But what happened between the time when he died and when he woke up? Now, suddenly, he remembers... Oneshot.


**So, like, I was bored, and I needed a new story to write, and I figured that I wanted to do something dark and creepy, so I did. I wrote THIS. Like it? I do. I think it was fun, actually. Lemme know if you like it too! :D**

Ichigo knew that when you died, you went to the Soul Society or became a Hollow. That's why, when he felt the Arrancar's cold fingers dig into his collarbone, he knew he was safe from showing up anywhere that he was unsure of. Even though he knew he wouldn't remember much of his past life, he was sure that he could retain enough memories to know that the afterlife wasn't a scary place. Maybe he would even remember his friends? Chad, Uryuu, Orihime… hopefully Rukia. It was her fault he was here in the first place, remember?

But today… he and his friends had infiltrated Las Noches in search of Orihime, and he and Nel had ended up running into the Espada they called Ulquiorra, and it hadn't ended too well. At first he had been unwilling to harm the Arrancar, since he seemed reluctant to fight in the first place, but when he said he that was cause of Orihime's capture… he'd struck a nerve. And a strong one. How dare anyone make a traitor out of his childhood friend? He couldn't believe he had let it happen, and had rushed into battle…

…but he'd been too reckless. As always. He was constantly being called reckless, and now he finally realized why every captain and lieutenant in the Soul Society had laughed at him whenever they deflected his first few attacks. It was because that kind of fighting got you killed in 'real life'. When Ulquiorra had pulled back his coat and revealed his rank, when that initial shock hit Ichigo's mind, he knew that he was a goner. There couldn't possibly be three more Espada above that guy! It would be too powerful… And when the white, outstretched fingers punctured his skin, he knew he would die doubly so; he was going to die here and leave his friends hanging on a thread of the mission that he had stared.

"You will never win," Ulquiorra had said to him, or something similar to that. As his bankai dissolved around him, and his consciousness faded, he found it harder and harder to concentrate on his memory of the recent fight. He couldn't bring himself to get up and follow the Espada's retreating footsteps. He couldn't even bring himself to lift his head when he heard Nel's short scream, and the bloody noises that came after it when Ulquiorra killed her with another one of his enormous ceros. Then, he just… faded away. The blackness enclosed him, and he knew no more. It was as if he'd never even existed…

"Ichigo! Snap out of it already!" he suddenly heard a familiar voice scream at him through this fog that had become his consciousness.

"Wha-?" he asked, blinking. Slowly, very slowly, the scene before him faded into focus, zooming in and out around the edges and finally settling into what it really was. There was a long, narrow, white hallway, stained with blood from an apparently recent battle. There was also a figure before him, a small, darkly-clothed individual who was clutching at her side and staring angrily at him through glazed violet eyes.

"R-Rukia?" he asked, feeling his voice croak out of his throat. The eyes of the small girl before him widened, and hope flickered across her face. By now, Ichigo realized that he was standing upright, and not only that, but he had Zangetsu placed firmly in his hand and that he felt relatively… unharmed.

"Ichigo?" she asked, dropping her guard and straightening despite her wound to see him more clearly. "You there?"

"What… what happened?" he asked, looking down at his hands. They were white, blood-deprived… cold. Zangetsu looked the same, in a creepy, dead way. He turned scared eyes back towards his bleeding friend. "Rukia, what's happened to me?"

"You…." She said slowly, suddenly seeing the look in his eyes. "You don't remember."

"What don't I remember?" he asked, placing Zangetsu on his back and rushing over to Rukia before she stumbled and fell. "Why am I fighting you?" She bit her lip and hesitated, searching his eyes as if to make sure he was telling the truth. A sort of recognition hit her expression when she found that he was.

"You… you died, Ichigo," she finally whispered, looking away, towards the blood spots on the floor.

"I WHAT!" he roared, giving her huge eyes and feeling panic start to seep into his mind. "That Ulquiorra guy really killed me?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, glancing at him sideways. "But you're back now, Ichigo!"

"Yeah, but…" he replied. "Why aren't we in the Soul Society? Why are we still in Las Noches?" he motioned towards the whitewashed hallways of gloom around them, incomprehension filling his expression. Rukia's own expression suddenly twisted into something unreadable, like sorrow, deep sorrow. Tears started to form on the bottom of her lids, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

"Oh c'mon Rukia, you don't have to cry about it," he said. "I didn't want you to-,"

"You're an Arrancar, Ichigo," she said suddenly, her voice low and trembling. "Aizen brought you back to life with the Hogyoku and made use of your inner Hollow. It's been four years, Ichigo, and you didn't even know it!"

Shock. Shock hit him full on in the stomach, speeding up his heart and widening his own eyes even further. Rukia suddenly burst into tears in front of him, but he barely noticed. All he could hear was the own pounding of his heart in his ears, ringing back and forth in his head and telling him that this could not possibly be true.

Four years?

An Arrancar?

No… no way, he'd never let that happen! But… it did, didn't it?

Suddenly he got a fleeting memory – probably one of Shiro's. He saw, through his eyes, himself waking up. He blinked back the immense tiredness that had drawn itself upon him, and slowly opened his heavy eyelids enough to spot a familiar face – Aizen's – smiling down at him kindly along with Gin's huge grin and Ulquiorra's emotionless expression.

They knew now that they were talking to Shiro. They told him they'd resurrected him through the Hogyoku, and made him an offer to become the new 10th Espada.

Seem unlikely?

Duh. But it was too much of an opportunity for the insane Hollow to pass up on, and when he realized that Ichigo was 'asleep', he decided to take full advantage of the situation. He'd agreed heartily, and that very day, his training began.

Memory after memory flooded in now. It was like an overflowing river, overpowering and immensely hard for Ichigo to take in. He saw memories of himself training against all the other Espada, and quickly bringing it to Aizen's attention that he was far greater than the 10th. Soon he was the 9th, then the 8th, and then the 7th, all the way up until he became the new 1st Espada, bumping everyone else down a rank. He, Hichigo Shirosaki, was now the top warrior in Aizen's Arrancar army, thanks to Ulquiorra of course. Now that he had unlocked his full potential, he was far greater than even Starrk, and everyone came to know this quickly.

Then came even worse memories. They had come for him, four years later, his friends. Uryuu – now a full-fledged Quincy with overwhelming skill and aim with his huge bow and arrows. Chad with a new full suit of armor that had only enclosed his arm the last time they saw each other. Orihime, now over her fears and making use of Tsubaki and the others to her full extent, completely the opposite of her whimpering, former self. And Rukia, now a Soul Society captain with large, sad eyes and new skills that could kill anyone she wanted to if she felt like it.

And he'd killed them. He'd slaughtered every single one except Rukia, senselessly laughing over their spilled blood and screaming at them about how weak they had become. He had killed them… it was all his fault….

"_Fault? Oh no, King, it ain't your fault. And it ain't mine either! It's my privilege to do this, y'know?" _said an all-too-familiar voice in his head, suddenly back in the present time. "_And you ain't goin back to bein anyone's friend right now, got that? Oh, and by the way, I'm the King now."_

He couldn't even protest. It happened all too quickly. The next thing he knew, he was back in his inner world, standing beside the saddest, oldest-looking Zangetsu he'd ever seen. The old man looked so tired, so defeated, that Ichigo instantly knew he'd lost it all – sanity, power, strength… he was gone. Ichigo Kurosaki was dead.

He didn't even notice when Shiro speared Rukia through the heart, ending her life without a second thought. He couldn't hear his other self's screeching laughter, mocking her for trusting him and that he was a pretty good actor, right? No, he didn't hear any of it. He simply closed his eyes and looked up at the sky, feeling the turmoiled winds within himself blow.

And Ichigo Kurosaki faded away, disappearing forever from both the world and himself.

**Aaaaaand, that's that. Hope you enjoyed the read, sorry it's so short. I only had about 45 minutes to come up with it. Who knew Shiro was so fun to write about?**


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